livius drusus
01-25-2007, 02:50 PM
The Palatine is a mess (http://ansa.it/site/notizie/awnplus/english/news/2007-01-23_12335684.html), and it has been for a long time. Despite its fabled array of ancient palaces -- including the home of Augustus and Livia -- the hill has not been maintained effectively and is currently on the verge of collapse.
"Things have been scatter-shot up till now. Too many fingers in too many dykes," Croci said.
But culture minister Rutelli is looking to change all that with a comprehensive restoration plan that would shore up the structural integrity of the entire hill as well as the historical and architectural wonders perched thereupon.
They're even considering restoring an ancient sewer (http://www.livescience.com/history/070124_ap_palatine_hill.html) to help drain the waterlogged hill, an idea I personally love. Hey, the place wasn't about to come tumbling down when that sewer was built. Those Romans knew how to engineer a city hellabetter than a lot of the Romans who came after them.
In related knews, they might have find the Lupercal, the cave where the wolf was said to have suckled Romulus and Remus and where Brutus thrice presented Caesar a kingly crown which he did thrice refuse, while they were restoring Augustus and Livia's palace.
Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the Palatine and the nearby Roman Forum, said experts used a probe to peer into the 52-foot-deep cavity and found a vaulted space decorated with frescoes, niches and seashells. It is too early to say for sure whether the worship place known as “lupercale''— from “lupa,'' Latin for wolf — has been found, but Roman texts say that it was close to Augustus' palace and that the emperor had restored it, Iacopi said.
“It was a very important symbolic place and we believe that it was well preserved,'' said Giovanna Tedone, an architect leading the work at the palace. Archaeologists are now looking for the grotto's entrance, she said.
I don't know why these reports are so dismissive of tourist stamina, though. So it's a steep hill, big damn deal. Tourists in Rome, in my experience, spend whole days trudging up, down and over pretty much everything. The Palatine isn't underexplored because tourists are wussies; it's underexplored because walls collapse all the time and none of the good stuff is open.
"Things have been scatter-shot up till now. Too many fingers in too many dykes," Croci said.
But culture minister Rutelli is looking to change all that with a comprehensive restoration plan that would shore up the structural integrity of the entire hill as well as the historical and architectural wonders perched thereupon.
They're even considering restoring an ancient sewer (http://www.livescience.com/history/070124_ap_palatine_hill.html) to help drain the waterlogged hill, an idea I personally love. Hey, the place wasn't about to come tumbling down when that sewer was built. Those Romans knew how to engineer a city hellabetter than a lot of the Romans who came after them.
In related knews, they might have find the Lupercal, the cave where the wolf was said to have suckled Romulus and Remus and where Brutus thrice presented Caesar a kingly crown which he did thrice refuse, while they were restoring Augustus and Livia's palace.
Irene Iacopi, the archaeologist in charge of the Palatine and the nearby Roman Forum, said experts used a probe to peer into the 52-foot-deep cavity and found a vaulted space decorated with frescoes, niches and seashells. It is too early to say for sure whether the worship place known as “lupercale''— from “lupa,'' Latin for wolf — has been found, but Roman texts say that it was close to Augustus' palace and that the emperor had restored it, Iacopi said.
“It was a very important symbolic place and we believe that it was well preserved,'' said Giovanna Tedone, an architect leading the work at the palace. Archaeologists are now looking for the grotto's entrance, she said.
I don't know why these reports are so dismissive of tourist stamina, though. So it's a steep hill, big damn deal. Tourists in Rome, in my experience, spend whole days trudging up, down and over pretty much everything. The Palatine isn't underexplored because tourists are wussies; it's underexplored because walls collapse all the time and none of the good stuff is open.